Penders' collapse puts scare into UH in loss

Cougars fall 82-79 to UAB after their coach returns to bench

BIRMINGHAM, ALA. - After getting the worst kind of scare in the first half, the Houston Cougars ended up throwing quite a scare into the UAB Blazers on Saturday afternoon.

The Cougars were stunned when coach Tom Penders collapsed during a dizzy spell on the sideline just before halftime. But with Penders back on the sideline for the second half, the Cougars (10-6 overall, 1-3 in Conference USA) refocused and put together one of their better efforts of the season, even if it resulted in an 82-79 loss to the Blazers.

A vocal crowd of 7,423 poured into Bartow Arena anticipating a clash between two of C-USA's upper-echelon teams. And they certainly got that, witnessing a thrilling game sealed on a floating baseline bank shot by UAB freshman Lawrence Kinnard with 6.3 seconds to play.

The Cougars had one last stab at tying the game, but Chris Lawson's 3-pointer glanced off the rim as the buzzer sounded, giving the Blazers (14-3, 4-0) their 10th straight victory.

Penders, 59, who has a history of heart problems, just shrugged off his collapse.

"I just started seeing stars," he said. "I don't know what happened. I never lost consciousness, so I felt it was OK to come back (and coach the second half). That was a heck of a game. A great game. They had to make what I would call a circus shot to win it."

It was an appropriate description, because clowns had stolen the show long before Kinnard's shot skipped off the glass. Referees Harrell Allen, Frankie Bordeaux and John Hampton were like the Beatles of bad calls, crippling both teams by calling a mind-numbing 45 fouls.

Technical called

The officiating was crystallized by one call:

With 52.6 seconds to play in the first half, Penders rose to his feet, staggered and then crumpled to his hands and knees on the sideline. After a few moments, Penders went flat as medical personnel rushed to attend to him.

Hampton strolled by, paused and called a technical foul on Penders, apparently thinking the coach was reacting to a questionable intentional foul call on Smith.

Even when Penders was taken off the court on a stretcher, Hampton refused to rescind the technical. UAB's Carldell Johnson made both free throws for a 48-44 lead.

"I didn't even realize they called a technical on me until I was told later," Penders said. "That's absurd, that's all I can say. But I'm not going to say that the officials cost us the game."

While it goes down in the books as a loss, the Cougars should be able to smile about the play of 6-9 forward Richard Young, who had four rebounds, a block and a dunk off an alley-oop in 13 minutes.

"I'm just happy they gave me that shot," Young said. "I've played so little this season (17 minutes before Saturday) that I'm like a fresh guy. I know they (the coaches) are worried about my knee (after surgery two months ago), but I told them earlier this week that it's fine."

With one last chance to tie after Kinnard hit the baseline shot that put the Blazers up 82-79, Lawson dribbled upcourt but was forced into a miss from the top of the key.

Coach's call

"I left it short," Lawson said. "I thought it might hit the backboard, but I shot it short. We had something drawn up where I would get the ball to Lanny or Oliver, but it didn't work out."

Penders said he played the percentages by putting the ball in Lawson's hands at the end.

"We didn't want Lanny dribbling the ball upcourt with (UAB's) Squeaky Johnson on him," he said. "We just didn't feel like that's what we wanted. We wanted either Chris or Brian to bring the ball up, with Ramon, Lanny and Oliver downcourt. We felt like Lanny was having too much trouble getting the ball past Squeaky one-on-one."